Chap. 309.—An ACT to authorize the board of supervisors of Shen-
andoah county to contract for keeping the roads and bridges of said
county in repair, and to assess taxes therefor.

Approved March 1, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
on and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and
eighty-six, it shall be lawful for the county of Shenandoah to
work and keep in repair, highways. roads and bridges as fol-
lows:

2. The board of supervisors of said county shall take charge
of, and have worked and kept in repair, all public roads and
bridges heretofore and hereafter established, and for this pur-
pose are authorized and empowered to levy a road tax not ex-
ceeding in any one year twenty cents upon the one hundred
dollars of assessed taxable value in said county, and to adopt
such regulations as may be necessary to secure the proper
working of roads in said county.

3. The said board of supervisors shall, as soon after the first
day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, as may be
practicable, appoint one commissioner of roads for each magis-
terial district in said county, who shall qualify before the court
of said county by taking the usual oath of office, and shall
continue as such until their successors are duly qualified. The
term of the said commissioners of roads shall be two years,
and shall commence on the first day of July succeeding their
appointment; and they shall be appointed at the meeting of
said board of supervisors next preceding that day: provided,
however, that the commissioners first appointed under this act
shall hold office until the first day of July, eighteen hundred
and eighty-eight. The said commissioners of roads shall have
supervision of all the roads and bridges within their respective
districts in said county, and all applications to the court for
changes or opening new roads must be reported on by the
commissioner of the district in which said road is located. —

_ 4. The said commissioners of roads, severally, shall annually,
at the May term of the court of said county, let to contract, to
the lowest suitable bidder, the work of keeping in repair the
roads and bridges in their districts, notices of which lettings
shall be posted for ten days at each post-office, and otherwise
published at the discretion of the commissioners, by order of
the board of supervisors. The said letting shall be in whole
or in sections, at the discretion of the commissioner, and for
the year ending on the first day of July in each year: provided,
however, that the contracts made at the May term of the court,
eighteen hundred and eighty-six, shall continue in force until
the first day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
They shall require the bids to be in writing, and signed by the
contractors, and shall deliver the same, under seal, to the board
of supervisors, for their examination and approval or rejection
at their first meeting thereafter. Each contractor shall be re-
quired to give bond, with good security, in a penalty at least
double the amount of his bid, for the faithful performance of
his contract, which bond shall be filed with the clerk of the
board of supervisors. A recovery may be had for any breach
of said contract, in the name of the county, for the benefit of
the road fund, in the county court, by motion, after ten days’
notice to the contractor and his security or securities.

5. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of roads to give
personal supervision to all the roads and bridges in their re-
spective districts, to see that the contractor is faithfully per-
forming his contract; and for any failure in carrying it out, the
commissioner of the district shail at once institute, through the
prosecuting attorney, proceedings for the recovery of damages
for any breach of said contract.

6. The commissioner of roads shall receive as compensation
not exceeding two dollars a day for every day actually em-
ployed, but in no case shall this compensation exceed one hun-
dred dollars per year, to be paid by the county.

7. The board of supervisors shall have power, at any time,
for good cause, to revoke the appointment of any commis-
sioner of roads, and to appoint his successor to fill his unex-
pired term.

8. The board of supervisors shall provide for the payment
of all the costs which may be incurred in keeping the public
roads in order, and for altering the same, and for opening new
roads, including land damages, and for repairing and building
bridges, to be levied, collected and paid out according to pro-
visions of law.

g. No member of the board of supervisors or commissioner
of roads shall be directly or indirectly interested in any con-
tract made under this act, and any participation therein by
either shall, under this contract, be null and void.

10. No appropriation by the county court for roads or
bridges, in excess of thirty dollars, shall be binding on the
county, or paid, unless and until the same shall have been sub-
mitted to and approved by the board of supervisors. .

11. All levies made and collected under this act shall be col-
lected and accounted for by the county treasurer as a special
road fund, and shall be paid out on the order of the board of
supervisors.

12. When the court shall order the opening of a new road,
or the erection of a new bridge, the work of opening or build-
ing the same shall be let to contract by the commissioner of
the district in which said road or bridge is located, the con-
tractor giving bond and security, to be approved and accepted
by the board of supervisors.

13. Each contractor shall be entitled to the services, for not
more than two days in any year, of all persons liable to service
in working the public roads under existing laws; and any
person, for failure to attend with proper tools and work the
roads on such days as the contractor may direct, shall pay to
the contractor seventy-five cents for every day in which there
may be such failure. If the money be not paid to the con-
tractor within thirty days, he shall make out a ticket against
such delinquent if he be a person of full age, or if he be an in-
fant, against his parent or guardian, for the amount of such
fine, and place the same in the hands of the constable of his
district, who is hereby required to receive the same for collec-
tion, and take a receipt of the officer for the same. The officer
having charge of the collection of such fines, shall distrain
therefor in the same manner as for taxes and county levies,
and may sell any property distrained after ten days’ notice.
Such officer shall have a fee of twenty-five cents in all cases
when the money shall have been collected by him, to be paid
by the party in addition to the fine. He shall pay over to the
contractor all such fines within thirty days after they come into
his hands, or return the same to the contractor as insolvent
when the fine cannot be collected by levy. If the officer shall
fail to make payment of the fine or return the same insolvent
within thirty days from the date he received it, he and his sure-
ties on his official bond shall be liable for such fine, whether
collected by him or not, to be recovered by the contractor,
upon motion. All tickets for labor which may be returned by
the officer insolvent, as hereinbefore provided, shall be returned
by the contractor to the board of supervisors.

14. To enable the board of supervisors to speedily com-
mence operations under this act, they are empowered to issue
ten county bonds, not to exceed five hundred dollars each,
payable annually from one to ten years, bearing six per centum
interest from date of issue; and they shall provide to pay punc-
tually the said bonds as they become due, as well as the interest
annually on all the outstanding bonds.

15. Such provisions of the general road law of the state as
do not conflict with this act, shall continue in force in 1 the
county named herein.

16. This act shall be submitted to the board of supervisors
of Shenandoah county, and may be adopted by a majority of
said board voting therefor, a record of such vote to be made
and preserved on the minutes of the board, and if adopted,
shall be put into operation in the manner and at the time
herein provided for, or on the first day of July of any succeed-
ing year: provided that nothing herein contained shall be so
construed as to relieve any road overseer from any duty or lia-
bility as such, until his road precinct shall have been let to
contract according to law: and provided, further, that any ac-
tion of the board of supervisors adopting the provision of this
act may be rescinded by a majority vote in favor thereof and
entered as aforesaid, the same to take effect at the end of any
contract year.

17. This act shall apply to the county of Montgomery as
fully as to that of Shenandoah: provided, that itis adopted by
a majority of the board of supervisors of said county: and pro-
vided, further, that said board shall not, under section two ot
this bill, be authorized to levy a road-tax exceeding in any one
year ten cents upon the hundred dollars of assessed taxable
value in said county of Montgomery, nor to issue, under sec-
tion fourteen, more than four bonds of five hundred dollars
each.

18. This act shall be in force from its passage.